


Touch

by torib0o



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Budding Romance, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 06:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7673068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torib0o/pseuds/torib0o
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance is homesick. Keith is, surprisingly, there for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Touch

Lance exhaled heavily as he lied back on the cool floor of the control room.

 

He'd lost track of time staring at the map of the universe and had come to a realization.

 

Staring at projections showing Earth helped nothing. Initially, he'd felt some closeness to his family staring at the planet, zoomed in as much as it could be, but over time, as days turned to weeks, he began to feel a persistent ache.

 

He could hear his mother calling his name, feel his father's beefy grip on his shoulder, smell his grandmother's cooking, but it was all beginning to fade.

 

He felt farther and farther away from them as each day passed.

 

Lance swiped his arm over his face, dampening the silken fabric of his paladin issued pajamas with hot tears that showed no sign of stopping. His mouth grew hot and spit flew like water. He was nauseated and his heart ached as his sobs grew louder, body trembling with the force of them. He leaned over and pressed his eyes to his knees and a hand over his mouth; he needed to muffle the wretched sounds escaping him.

 

It was the middle of the night and he was far enough from their barracks that he didn't think he'd rouse anyone with his cries, but he was surprised when a voice cut through the anguished sobs filling his ears.

 

"Lance?"

 

He sat up straight and his tears suddenly stopped as he hasitly wiped at his eyes.

 

"Hey, uh, what's up?" He asked quickly as he swallowed, trying to steady his voice.

 

Keith furrowed his brows as he walked around the blue paladin and sat beside him. "Were you crying?"

 

Lance scoffed. "Crying? About what?"

 

Keith looked out through the large windows of the ship and sighed softly. "You don't have to lie. I know you miss home; we all do."

 

"That's not the only thing I have going on in my life, Keith," he huffed. "There are...others things! Zarkon, the Galra, freeing enslaved planets."

 

"Yeah, that's true, but would any of that really have you crying in the middle of the night?"

 

Lance lowered his eyes.

 

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Keith asked. "We're friends."

 

Lance glanced at Keith and arched a brow. "Since when? We're rivals."

 

"Rivals can be friends." Keith reached out and placed his hand on the back of Lance's neck. "Rivals push each other to improve, but friends are more than that. I know you're upset right now, but you don't have to put up walls with me."

 

Lance lost track of time again as he stared at Keith, but when his vision grew blurry and breath short, he shook his head.

 

"Lance, out here, we're all each other has and I know it might make me sound selfish, but I'm happy for that. I'm thankful." Keith licked his lips. "I've never had this before. I've never had a group of people who...cared about me like this."

 

"What about your family?" Lance asked softly. "Don't you miss them? I mean, I know you're a pain sometimes, but someone's gotta miss you," he joked as he sniffled.

 

Keith shrugged a shoulder. "I don't have any family. Before I started at the Garrison I was an orphan. Not a big deal, but this is the first time I've ever had a place where I felt like I belonged."

 

The breath was knocked out of Keith's body as he was drawn in against Lance. The blue paladin's body was wracked by sobs, but Keith wasn't sure if it was because Lance pitied him or missed his family. It was likely a mix of the two. The red paladin wrapped his arms around Lance stiffly and exhaled as he rubbed the other's back.

 

"Why didn't you say anything?" Lance asked softly. "Why didn't you ever tell us?"

 

Keith shrugged a shoulder. He'd never considered it. Was it normal to share something like that? He knew Lance spoke of his parents, grandparents, and siblings and Pidge was on a relentless quest to find their father and brother, but because Keith didn't have any family, he had nothing to contribute to their discussions and reminiscing.

 

"You know, you should take your own advice. You can talk to me too," Lance mumbled.

 

Realizing he was still leaning against Lance, Keith slowly pulled back and nodded. "I know," he replied. "Thanks."

 

Lance nodded and wiped his tears, but was surprised when he felt he Keith's cool fingers against his warm cheek, aiding him.

 

He leaned into the touch, warmed by it. He wanted to snap at Keith, to ask what he was doing and reject it, but it had been far too long since he'd been touched so tenderly and he relished it. He placed his hand over Keith's and inhaled shakily.

 

"You don't have to do this," Lance whispered, feeling the need to say something as heat spread through his body.

 

"I know I don't. I want too, though."

 

Keith's eyes met Lance's then and he inhaled sharply, wondering if they had always been so blue or if it was the red of his sclera making it more noticeable.

 

Lance swallowed thickly and nodded slowly, then pulled away, hurriedly pushing himself up. His limbs felt uncomfortably loose and his body hot, but he was no longer in the throes of distress, instead focused on his increased heart rate.

 

"So, yeah, thanks for the talk. We should probably get to bed. Training in the morning," Lance said quickly as he turned away, taking a quick, sharp breath.

 

"Right," Keith mumbled. "Goodnight, Lance."

 

"Yeah, goodnight!" Lance called over his shoulder as he forced himself to walk at a normal pace.

 

As he entered his quarters, Lance hung up his robe, but paused, staring at the sleek fabric without truly seeing it.

 

What had that been? Why had Keith touched his cheek? Was he overthinking it? Did Keith think it was acceptable behavior to simply touch someone’s face? The red paladin had proven himself somewhat socially awkward in the past and with the new information about Keith’s past, Lance couldn’t find it in himself to be upset. However, he hadn’t truly been upset to begin with.

 

Lance crawled into bed and shut off his lights as he tried to push all thoughts of Keith and his cool, soothing touch from his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been awhile since I've written a real fic, so go easy on me. I'm thinking of making this a series, but I don't know. Comments are welcome. Thanks for reading!


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